G3 



which are almost entirely made ii[) of rocks belongin'j; to this formation. Pro- 

 ceeding southward and turning in a westerly direction round the base of the 

 great Adirondack region, we find the formation for a considerable way completely 

 obliterated. In the vicinity of Adams, N.Y., it again crops out, but gradually 

 becomes narrower until the rocks of the Hudson River age conceal it ; after 

 this, proceeding in a course almost due west, it dips beneath the waters of Lake 

 Ontario, and I'eappears again on the Canadian shore — a wide belt reaching from 

 Port Newcastle to Canton near Whitby — at which latter place some very fossili- 

 ferous strata occur. Tliis extensive belt crosses the Province ot Ontario through 

 the counties of Durham, Ontario, York and Simcoe, reaches Collingwood and 

 there disappears. Subsequently following a north-westerly course beneath the 

 waters of Georgian Bay, and striking points and rapes of the Great Manitoulia 

 Island, as well as many ot the North Channel Islands, this belt narrows in 

 gradually, diminishes likewise in thickness, crosses St. Joseph's Island, and 

 again reaches the mainland, where, after a few miles of outcrop, it is lost sight of 

 beneath the more recent overlying rocks and is not traceable further west. 



Besides this continuous belt of the Utica Slate, there also occur isolated 

 " patches " or " outliers " in other parts of Canada and of the United States. Along 

 the Hudson Puiver Valley there are many fine exposures, some of which give a 

 total thickness of four hundred feet, (Dana). It also occurs in Virginia, Alabama, 

 Tennessee, Ohio and Wisconsin, besides its probable recognized existence in 

 Nevada by Dr. C. A. White (Walcott). Returning to Canada, not an unimpor- 

 tant outlier is that which we find in the immediate vicinity of Ottawa city. 

 Indeed, it may be said that the deposits of Gloucester and Ottawa will give the 

 diligent searcher many new and interesting forms of life peculiar to this forma- 

 tion, and as yet unrecorded in Canada. The Gloucester beds, as they are 

 called, are pretty extensively developed, stretching out for several miles south 

 and east of this cit}\ 



At Cumberland, Clarence and North Plantagene^, more of these outliers 

 occur and have been recorded. There are also beds of shale belonging to this 

 formation in the neighbourhood of L'Orignal, Ont. Another outlier, very remote 

 from these, but of much importance is found in the immediate vicinity of Lake 

 St. John, P. Q. This locality has yielded some very fine fossils, chiefly graptolites 

 and trilobites. On the Islands of Anticosti and Orleans there are rocks and 

 boulders belonging to this formation that have been drifted thither but do not 

 occur in situ, as belonging to those islands. 



From these facts, it may be safely predicated that the Utica seas must have 

 occupied pretty generally the whole central portion of the North American Con- 

 tinent, bounded on the north by the Laurentian Hills, and on the east and west by 

 tne Appalachian and Rocky Mountain Ranges respectively. 



THE OTTAWA AND GLOUCESTER BEDS. 



These beds have proved a rich hunting ground to the palaeontologist. From 

 them the late Mr. E. Billings obtained and described many new and interesting 

 species, and doubtless the careful collector will be well repaid for his labours in 

 the same field. To the east of the city along the Rideau River the Utica Slate 

 formation is particularly well developed and very rich in fossils. It also occurs 

 at Rochesterville but the rock is brittle and almost destitute of fossils. By the 

 Rideau we have several exposures each of which gives us a different horizon, 

 with its characteristic set of fossils. Their stratigraphical relations are more or 

 less obscure, yet with a little attention they can be tolerably well ascertained. 



The exposure taken as representing the lowest of the series is that which is 

 found at low water along the Rideau River at the Ritle Range. 



These beds are very fossiliferous and abound especially in specimens of 

 pygidia and ylahdlae of Asapkus Canadensis, Chapman, also Triarthrus Becki, 

 Green ; and crinoid sterna associa<^ed with numerous specimens of Leptscna 



